


Tiny

by Phoebe_Snow



Series: This is A Good Love [12]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attraction, Bonding, Cassian is an art major, Chemistry, Cute Ending, Dialogue Heavy, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Kiss, I'm Bad At Titles, Imagine your OTP, Inspired By Tumblr, Jyn is being sassy and adorable, Meet-Cute, hiding in the cupboard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-05 06:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11008080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoebe_Snow/pseuds/Phoebe_Snow
Summary: Cassian goes to art class, but he doesn't expect it to be cancelled and he definitely doesn't expect to end up smitten with his teacher's sassy daughter who he finds hiding in the cupboard.





	Tiny

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off an adorable prompt that I found on Tumblr ages ago and since I write AUs a heck of a lot better than canon ones, I couldn't resist publishing this. :3
> 
> Check out the [cover art!](http://greenfleeze.tumblr.com/post/161228924913/tiny-read-on-ao3-cassian-goes-to-art-class-but)

* * *

 

 

Cassian was the first person in his art class fifteen minutes before it started. The room was completely empty and even his teacher wasn't in the room. That was odd. Usually, the man was in the room an hour before class started. He might have been running late, though.

"Well, I'll set up my easel while I'm waiting." Cassian walked to the best spot in the room, the place on the right next to the middle window. The sun's rays shone down perfectly on that spot and Cassian did his best to come early so he could grab it before anyone else.

Once he had all of his supplies in place, he leaned against the cupboard in the back of the room and sighed, waiting for the class to fill up. A glance at his watch told him that it was five minutes to ten. "Where in the world is everybody?" He said to himself, brow furrowed in confusion.

A muffling sound from came from the the compartment in the cupboard and Cassian turned, looking down at the doors at the bottom. "Is...someone there?"

Again, there was a sound that responded to him, except this time he could hear what the person was saying. "Art class has been cancelled today."

Cassian opened the two doors and came face-to-face with a young woman. From her youthful appearance, he guessed that she was twenty or twenty-one. She also the most lovely green eyes he'd ever seen. "Uh, how do you know?"

She peered up at him. "Because my father is the teacher for this class."

"Oh. _Oh._ You're Galen Erso's daughter?"

"What is **that** supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I just wasn't expecting you to say that."

"Why? Is it because I'm in a cupboard?"

"No, I've just heard some things, is all."

"What things?"

Cassian laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. He didn't have the courage to tell her that he'd heard reports of her getting into a lot of fights at her old school, eventually getting expelled for them.

From the rumour mill at the college - and Cassian hardly ever paid any attention to gossip, but this time, he was a little bit curious - Jyn had a notoriously bad temper and none of her teachers liked her. Apparently, she was something of a _rebel_.

"Just silly things from people who don't know you. That kind of thing doesn't stop, even after high school."

Jyn rolled her eyes and sighed. "Don't I know it."

In a last minute effort to change the subject, Cassian said, "You must be pretty tiny to fit in there."

Jyn's nose flared and she gave him a deadly stare that was both hilarious and cute at the same time. "I am not tiny."

Cassian just laughed. "Have you seen how small this cupboard is?"

"You're asking for a punch in the nose."

"Whoa. Just calm down, alright? It was a joke."

"I will not calm down. You just insulted me because of my height. Only people I know can do that." She stuck out her lips in annoyance.

A twinge of guilt hit Cassian in the gut. He probably did go too far with his joke. "Okay. I'm sorry that I offended you."

"No problem. I was messing with you."

He frowned. "Oh." 

Jyn smiled at him playfully and got out of the cupboard. He held out a hand to help her and she grasped it. "Thanks," she replied, but her eyes widened when a spark of electricity ran through her fingers where Cassian had touched her.

Once she was standing on her feet, Cassian grinned to himself. She was about a head shorter than he, but he could tell that she made up for it with her spunk.

She wiped at the dust on her pants and gave him a curious look. "So, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Oh, I'm Cassian Andor." He held out his hand to her and she shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Cassian. That's an interesting name."

"Likewise, Jyn. So is yours."

"Thanks. I like it."

"If you don't mind my asking, why were you hiding in the cupboard?"

"My cousin Bodhi dared me to stay in it for two hours."

"...are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"You're not joking with me again, are you?"

"Of course not. Can you think of any other reason why I'd be hiding in there besides doing it for a dare?"

"No."

"There you have it, then."

"But why is it a dare to hide in the cupboard? You could say it's a bit of a challenge, but not something as difficult as a dare."

Jyn's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Trust me. It is. You know Orson Krennic?"

"Yeah. He's that history teacher who everyone suspects sympathises with the Nazis, right?"

"Ugh, the very same. Anyway, I photoshopped his face onto a picture of Adolph Hitler that had the caption "Off with his head" on it."

Cassian let out a surprised bark of laughter and put a hand over his mouth. It took him several seconds to stop laughing completely.

Jyn just looked at him with a proud smile on her face. "I take it you approve."

"Approve? Hell, I would have done that to him myself, if I'd thought of it first. Man, he must have been pissed."

"Oh, he was. His face got all red and he started hollering at everyone who laughed, demanding to know who did it. Some jerk ratted me out, though, and I got suspended for two weeks. Krennic even used his influence with the board to make it so I can't even come onto school property during my absence."

"What? That's excessive."

"I know! He's a freaking psychopath." Jyn put her hand on her hip. "He actually wanted to expel me - _expel me!_ \- but my dad knew him from college years ago and was able to talk him out of it. Thank goodness. I only have two years left and I'd like to finish them without getting kinked out of this school."

"Mm. Getting used to another school can be a huge pain. I know that from experience."

"You do? What, you got kicked out of a lot of schools, too?"

"No, but I kind of grew up all over the place as a kid. In four years, I lived in four separate states and went to seven different high schools."

Jyn's mouth dropped open and she stared at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding. Why would your parents drag you to so many places like that? Were they in the witness protection or something?" 

"Ha, I wish. My parents have been dead since I was twelve. Car accident. I didn't have any family either, so I bounced around a lot of foster homes for the rest of my teenage years. Kind of caused me to grow up sooner."

"That's...that's terrible, Cassian. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's okay. Once I graduated from high school, I got an apartment above a bakery. It always smelled like fresh bread, so that was nice. The owner was this sweet grandmotherly lady and she lowered the rent for me since I was so young. She said I reminded her of her grandson." Cassian's lips curved into a smile again as he thought of Shmi Skywalker.

She'd been like a grandmother and a mother to Cassian and even though he was eighteen when they met and in his eyes, a full fledged adult, Shmi had been a kind, comforting voice and influence in his life that he desperately needed. They may not have been blood relatives, but Cassian had been adopted into the Skywalker family and they considered him as one of their own..

Shmi's son Anakin was a kind man who thought of him as a younger brother and so did his wife, Padme. Their daughter, Leia, had taken a shine Cassian and liked getting piggyback rides from him and getting he and her brother, Luke to have tea with her and her dolls on several occasions.

Cassian sighed to himself and ran a hand through his hair. He had no idea why he just said all of that to Jyn. She probably didn't care. Feeling a little exposed, he cleared his throat and said, "Well, since class is cancelled, I guess I'll leave." He walked towards his easel and began putting everything up. Against his better judgment, he glanced back at Jyn, who stood a few feet away, watching him carefully.

She was beautiful and he felt a little unsure of himself as she looked at him. That made sense, though because he was twenty-six years old! All of those awkward feelings were supposed to have vanished after high school and adolescence.

It was frustrating to have those emotions brought up again and Cassian wondered why this young woman had such an immediate effect on him when he hardly even knew her. Her green eyes were stunning and those lips, those legs. God, she was beautiful. Jyn was a head shorter than him, but she was the loveliest creature he'd ever seen.

"Do you paint?"

Jyn blinked and she pursed her lips. "What...like my father?"

He nodded.

"Oh, no. Unfortunately, I'm horrible at painting. On the scale of one to ten of artistic ability, I'm a negative one hundred."

Cassian laughed at that, not expecting her to be so brutal about her lack of talent. "Come on. You can't be that bad."

"I swear I'm not lying to you. I'm so bad at art that I got a C when I took it as an extracurricular last semester. I can't even color inside the lines very well, unless I'm using coloring pencils because those are easier to use than crayons."

"That sucks."

She grinned ruefully. "Yeah, don't feel sorry for me, though. Art is great, of course, but I never really cared for it. Hard to miss what you don't have, right?"

That was a good point and Cassian agreed with her. "Very true."

"My mother wasn't very good at art either, so perhaps I got that from her." Jyn laughed softly and crossed her arms.

"She had no artistic talent?"

"Absolutely none. She was even terrible at drawing stick figures with me, but that was okay. We still had a lot of fun doing things together. She was the best." There was a sad look on Jyn's face and when she said "was", Cassian suspected that her mother was no longer living.

Although, he said nothing, Jyn sensed that he wanted to ask her about it or probably saw the questioning look on his face, so she said, "She died when I was ten. From a brain tumour. The doctors told us it was inoperable, so all we could do was wait."

Cassian's face fell. So they both had lost family at an early age. It was heartbreaking to know they were kindred spirits in such way. Sometimes, life could be so cruel. "I'm sorry."

Jyn nodded and ran a hand through her hair. "They said she wouldn't make it to the end of the year, but she lived fifteen more months. She hated it when people gave her ultimatums that she didn't like, so she fought it with every last breath she had."

"What was her name?"

"Lyra."

"It's beautiful."

"I think so too. She gave me this crystal before she passed away." Jyn pulled a a clear crystal tied around a thin black cord from her shirt. "It's just a family heirloom and has no value beyond sentiment, but she wanted me to have it to remember her by. Even if mama hadn't given it to me, she'd still be in my memory." A few tears slid down Jyn's face and she chuckled, wiping them away.

"Geez. I didn't mean to get all mushy on you. I normally don't talk to people about her like this. I don't even know why I said this stuff to you. I mean, we just met today." A faint red painted her cheeks and she smiled awkwardly.

"Maybe you told me because you sense that we share something in common. A kismet?"

"By way of childhood tragedy? That makes sense...and I guess I also feel really comfortable around you, too."

"I was about to say the same thing," Cassian replied with a puzzled smile on his face.

"That's a good sign, then," Jyn said and she grasped his hand, squeezing it gently.

Cassian gazed down at the woman in front of him and his heart began to pound against his chest. Something about her tugged at him and made he want to know her. And not just as a friend to a friend, but rather, deeply and intimately, as one would with a significant other. It was ridiculous because they just met, but this chemistry and attraction was there.

Before he could build up the boldness to ask her if she wanted to join him for lunch, footsteps sounded off down the hall. Jyn's face had a dreaded expression as if she knew who those footsteps belonged to. She went over to the door to peer outside and cursed under her breath, darting back into the room.

"Is everything okay?"

"No. Krennic is coming down the hall. The last thing I need is for him to see me here. He'd just use this as a reason to get a lengthen on my suspension." She looked around for somewhere else to hide, but there was nothing besides the cupboard.

Cassian must have been thinking the same thing because after a few moments, he said, "Maybe...you could hide in the cupboard again?"

When he said, Jyn groaned and shook her head. "No, I can't go back in there. My joints are too sore from being cooped up in a small space. That won't work."

"Okay, what about under the teacher's desk?"

"No, I'd have to crouch or lie down and if he turned his head slightly, he'd see me." She clenched her fists and wished that she had never taken that stupid dare from Bodhi. Jyn was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice Cassian taking her hand until suddenly, she was in his arms.

She instinctively placed her hand on his chest and looked up at him curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Just follow my lead," he whispered as his hand stroked the apple of her cheek.

The touch was unexpected and Jyn shuddered at the intimacy of it. He was taking a liberty that normally, she would kick someone on the leg for, but this felt different. It made absolutely no sense, but Jyn trusted Cassian, so she took a leap of faith in whatever he was doing.

She sighed in pleasure and leaned against him, enjoying the feel of his hand on her skin. Her eyes closed, a soft sigh leaving her mouth. Jyn wasn't a virgin by any means, but she'd never known that someone's hands could feel so good.

Suddenly, Cassian's lips pressed to hers and she gasped. The shock wore off quickly, though, because he was a damn good kisser. Warmth spread over her and Jyn felt energised and sated all at once.

His lips weren't forceful or demanding against her own, but tender and passionate. It was the kind of addictive kiss that Jyn had dreamed of having. She moaned and dug her hands into his jacket, pulling him so close that there was nary an inch of space between them. In response, Cassian's fingers slid around her waist, tightening his hold on her.

It would have been a huge lie if Jyn said that she hadn't thought about kissing Cassian during the bit of time that she'd gotten to know him. Something about the man just drew her in and made her curious to see more. Right now, the more was feeling pretty good. Well, at least, until an obnoxious throat cleared behind them.

"Erso."

Jyn groaned and managed to slowly pull her mouth away from Cassian's to turn and face the older scowling man. "Hello, Mr. Krennic. I like your cape." That was a lie, of course. Who in the world wore ugly white capes in this day and age? He wasn't even the theatre director.

"Don't try to flatter me with insincere compliments, Erso. You know you're not supposed to be on campus grounds until the twenty-first."

Cassian didn't care for the harsh way Krennic spoke to Jyn. Why did he always sound like he was prepared to yell at people? Between that, the permanent scowls he wore and the uptight behaviour, it was no wonder that people hated him.

"I know, I know, but my boyfriend came to class by mistake and I tried to reach him on his phone, which he turned off." Jyn gave Cassian a playful glare and he just grinned in return. "So I figured that I should come down here and see if he came to class. Sure, enough, he was."

Krennic gave Jyn a hard look and glanced at Cassian. "Galen didn't tell you that class was cancelled today?"

"He emailed me, but I forgot to check it this morning," Cassian said, and he casually rested his hand on Jyn's hip, tucking her to his side. To his delight, Jyn let herself mold to his form, as if they were really a couple.

"Well, make sure you do check it next time, Andor. The school emails exist for a reason. Erso, I will see **you** again on the twenty-first." Krennic walked out of the room and when his footsteps got farther away, Jyn sighed and shook her head.

" _God_ , he's an asshole," Cassian muttered. "I've only said a handful of words to him before, but now, I'd be happy to never cross paths with him again."

"And now you know why I can't stand him." Jyn rolled her eyes and looked up at Cassian with a smirk.

He grinned and moved his hand off her hip. "That's just one thing I know about you, though. In fact, in the past twenty minutes, I've told you a lot about me, but I know next to nothing about you, except that you're tiny, sassy and a quick thinker."

Jyn looked at him with a playful smile on her lips. "Maybe that's all I want you to know about me."

"Fair enough." Cassian gathered his things and made his way to the door.

She ran in front of him and held out a hand. "I didn't mean that."

"No?" 

"No." Jyn's hand pressed onto his shoulder and he welcomed the pressure. "I want you to learn more about me at lunch."

Cassian's eyebrow quirked. "Lunch?"

"Yeah. I'm asking you out. Unless that's a problem for you."

He smiled. "Not at all."

"Good. Now, I do have to get home and change and I'm guessing that you might want to go back to your place and put up your supplies?"

"That's right. I never leave my stuff in the car."

"Okay. So I'll go home and you can just pick me up there after you've taken care of your things. Do you need the address?"

"I have it already."

Jyn snapped her fingers. "Right. Dad always gives his most trusted students our home address if they need to see him personally. So that means he trusts you."

"Yeah, but I'm still his _student_ and you're his daughter. He doesn't even know that we met." Not that Cassian was scared of Jyn's father or anything, but the last thing he wanted to do was make his student-teacher relationship with Galen awkward by going out with his daughter.

"Don't worry about it. If he gave you our address, you're as good as gold. Besides, from the way he talks about you at home, I'd say you're one of his favourite students."

Cassian blinked. "Galen talks about me?"

"Yeah, he says that you're his prize pupil. Papa loves all of his students, but you're in a place of special regard for him, so don't worry. He will definitely be surprised to see you at the front door, but I foresee complete paternal approval in your favour."

"The odds are that good?"

"Mmhm."

"In that case, I look forward to it."

Jyn pecked Cassian on the cheek. "Me too."

 

 


End file.
